DEV DIARY: Campaign Overview

DEV DIARY: Campaign Overview

Recently the “The Patron and the Patriot” DLC was released for Offworld Trading Company. This DLC focuses on revamping the OTC campaign, specifically aiming to add story elements and new game mechanics focused on increasing replayability.

But before we get into the DLC we need to discuss what the campaign actually is, so that’s what we’ll be doing today.

Offworld was designed for quick, competitive games. Companies rise and fall in a matter of minutes, and most matches finish within half an hour. While this certainly is in line with the modern fast-paced RTS experience many players crave, it often does not match up well with those who want to spend time developing their company carefully and thoughtfully over time.

Enter the OTC campaign. In this mode players are able to select one of seven CEOs, each with unique specializations and abilities. You can play as a respected scientist, a robot seeking world domination, or a simple capitalist who want to turn one dollar into one hundred.

No matter who you select you’ll be facing a grueling seven week challenge. Each week players will compete with two to three other CEOs, all of them trying to make a profit while aiding in the development of local government sponsored colonies. Whoever proves themselves the most valuable (most profitable) is awarded lucrative contracts, while everyone else is left with lesser subsidies relative to their performance in the region.

As the weeks go on and players turn their profit they are given opportunities to reinvest in the business, acquiring additional engineers for their production, specialists to handle advanced buildings, or unique abilities such as patents. They can even visit the black market and store a few nasty surprises for the competition in the coming weeks.

After a few growth come the elimination rounds, where CEOs who have not been able prove their worth through either victory or steady, strong performance will start being removed from the competition. Once the competition has been whittled down to four the final round begins, and colony growth is no longer the goal. Instead players compete in one last skirmish-style match, aiming to buyout their opponents directly. Whoever succeeds here will have proven themselves the dominant force on Mars, and will be rewarded a well-earned monopoly.

Despite the strength of the campaign Mohawk saw more that could be added to it, and we’ll start talking about those changes and why they were made next week.